Your ability to do math may be genetic, according to new research
By
Mallika Marshall, MD
/ CBS Boston
BOSTON – Our ability to do math may lie in our genes.
Looking at more than a thousand students in Chinese elementary schools, researchers identified genetic variants that were strongly linked to categories of mathematical and reasoning abilities.
For example, some variants were associated with the ability to subtract, others with division, and others still with spatial conception.
Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.